Little Cold Feet
by mariajonsson
Summary: Ned has just returned from the Greyjoy Rebellion. He desperately wants to have some alone time with his wife, but with the new baby and the boys excited to have him home there isn't really much time. He finally loses it when he keeps finding Sansa asleep in his wife's bed.


**A/N: All mistakes are my own since I have yet to find someone to read my stories over for me. I wasn't sure about how to rate so I apologize if it isn't quite what you expected. Hope you all like it :)  
Disclaimer: I own nothing all characters and background belong to George R.R. Martin. This is just for fun.**

**Little Cold Feet**

Not again, Ned thinks as he enters his wife's chambers and spots a head of red curls on his pillow, and not the head he wanted to see.

Although he loves all his children dearly his patience is wearing thin. This was the ninth consecutive night that he has found Sansa sleeping in his lady wife's bed, on his side!

Cat hasn't gone to bed yet and is sitting in a chair near the crib holding Arya to her breast; she looks up from the babe when she hears him groan.

"Something troubling you, my lord?"

"Is it not high time Sansa started to sleep in her own chambers again?" he grumbles.

"I think she might be feeling a jealous of Arya. For Arya gets to stay here and she can not and I never have the heart to tell her no." Cat replies as she gets up from her seat to put Arya down in her crib before lacing up her dress again.

Ned walks over to her and looks down into the crib to admire the latest addition to their pack, like with Robb; he had been away when Catelyn had gone to the birthing bed. Although Arya's birth had been more difficult than their previous children, it was still considered to be an easy birth according to Ludwin nevertheless from what Ned had seen with Sansa he couldn't even begin to imagine what a difficult birth was and had been very relieved to hear that both mother and child had been well.

Arya doesn't seem to be completely out after feeding and is staring up at her parents as they stand over her crib. Ned reaches in and strokes a finger over her cheek and then her head, over her downy black hair. Her eyes start to drop although she seemed to be fighting it, only closing her eyes for a few moments before trying to open them again, finally she appears to lose the battle and her eyes closed.

He strokes a finger over her cheek one more time before looking over to his wife. She is looking at him with those Tully blue eyes, so full of love; her long red hair is loose about her shoulders. Not for the first time he wonders what he had done to deserve such a beautiful and devoted wife. Unexpectedly he feels a bit sorry for his youngest daughter for she has received his plainer looks while their older children have been blessed with their mother's more delicate features.

He takes a lock of Cat's hair in his hand swirling it around his fingers before letting go. He leans over and kisses her briefly on the lips, putting his hands on her hips pulling her closer to him, so that he can kiss her properly.

They stand there for a few minutes just enjoying the feeling of each other and one of his hands has travelled up to her sensitive breasts just applying light pressure as he backs her up against her vanity, pushing the chair in front of it to the side. Once he has pushed her up against it she abruptly puts her hands, which had previously been pulling him closer, on his chest pushing him away.

Her breath is hard and her lips swollen, the laces she had already pulled close are once again open and her left breast has nearly fallen out of her dress.

"Ned, we can't" she whispers her hands still on his chest as if she is afraid that if she lets him come closer she will not be able to control herself.

"Why not? It has been too long and Ludwin said it was fine that sufficient time has passed since the birth. Furthermore we have already lain together since I've been home" he feels his cock twitch at the thought of the welcome he had received.

She had clearly missed his as much as he had missed her and though it had only been two moons since she had given birth, he had taken her thrice that night and once again as the sun rose the next morning.

She blushes at his words and the pretty colour reaches all the way down to her chest, "it is not that I do not want to but we can not with Sansa in the room for I do not think either of us wants to explain this to her if she wakes, or to Robb because you know she will tell him."

Ned sighs and takes a step back from Cat, looking behind him at their daughter, making a swift decision that he knows Cat will not at first agree to. Before Cat can say anything he walks over to the bed and lifts Sansa up into his arms and walks towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Cat asked when he is about to open the door.

"I'm taking her back to her room, she is almost three and it is time she started sleeping in her own bed. Robb had already started sleeping in his own bed by the time she was born."

"That's different, at least Robb had someone to sleep with" although she is trying to defend Sansa her words are bitter and he knows she does not approve of Jon and Robb sharing a bedchamber and only relented because Robb had always sneaked into Jon's chambers after they had left so it became easier just to let them share, especially while they were still so young.

"She will be fine, her nurse is next door and it is only down the hall," he says in what he hopes is a reassuring voice, "if she wakes up she knows where you are." Cat starts to protest but the words die on her lips and at last she nods her head, coming over to place a kiss on their daughter's forehead and one on his lips before letting them go.

Ned walks over to Sansa's chambers and pushes open the door, placing Sansa onto the middle of her bed. Just as he pulls the furs around her, her blue eyes open and she stares up at him.

"Father, why are we here?" She looks around and then gazes up at him.

"Your mother and I thought now that you're such a big girl it is time you started sleeping in your own chambers, like your brothers" he says gently to her.

Sansa sits up in her bed and a serious look crosses her sweet face.

"You late, I wait forevers" she says, crossing her little arms over her chest.

"What do you mean sweetling?" He smile at the sight of her arms crossed and her eyebrows knitted together in frustration, never before has she resembled her mother more.

"I wait for but you always late and I sleepy," she says with a pout.

"I'm sorry I didn't know you were waiting for me if I had I would have come sooner" he tries to put his arms around her only for her to push his hands away, shaking her head.

"No you never have time to see me, just Robb and Jon and little Arya, all night. Do you not like me too?" She stares up at him with water in her eyes, a tear running down her cheek, and he can't help reaching over to her but she is still having none if it.

"Of course I like you just as much as you brothers and sister. I love you all very much." He tries to comfort her but she pulls further away.

"You go away for long time and now only see Robb and Jon, never me and when I wait for you, but you takes really really long time."

"I'm here now. What did you want to do? Do you wish to hear a story?" Catelyn had written to him of Sansa's love of stories and songs, especially those of handsome princes and daring knights and so he hopes he can bribe her with a tale.

Sansa looks at him and leans her head to the side as if considering his offer. "A nice story with a maiden and a knight," she asks.

"I think I can manage that."

The words have barely left his lips before she has jumped onto his lap, wiggling around trying to get comfortable.

He picks her up and sits himself on the bed with her in his arms, and again she starts squirming around before finally sitting comfortably on one of his thighs. He is about to start when she begins to pull on his tunic trying to get her little feet under his shirt.

"What are you doing?"

"My toes are cold, and you're always so warm" she says as if it is a well-known fact.

Then he recalls these last few nights when he would wake up in the night with something ice cold pressing against him in the night, he just figured it was Cat since she often got cold. Apparently he had been laying the blame on the wrong red head.

He starts a tale Old Nan had often told him and his siblings when they was young and while he speaks he takes Sansa's feet in his hands and tries to rub some heat into them.

He walks down the hall towards Catelyn's chambers and slowly opens the door. Some time had passed when at last Sansa fell asleep and he manages to lay her down on her bed again, and so he is not surprised to see that Cat has fallen asleep.

He takes his cloths off and gets under the furs next to her. He is almost asleep when a hand sneaks over his stomach and Cat whispers in his ear.

"Did you lose your way my love? Should I have alerted the guards that you had gone missing?" Although she was still half asleep he can hear the laughter in her voice.

"No need for that, my love, I was reasonably safe with our daughter." He explains as he leans over her and places a kiss on top of her head.

"What took you so long? I thought you would drop her in the nearest bed and come running back" she say as she slips a leg over his and runs her toes up and down his calf, and like Sansa's her toes are freezing cold.

"Well apparently I have been neglecting our little lady and she was feeling left out. She was waiting for me and while she was waiting she always fell asleep." He pulls Cat closer to him placing his face near her head so that he can smell her hair. Like always she smells of summer flowers and something he can only describe as uniquely Catelyn, that sweet smell of home.

"So is that why she was here?" Catelyn asks as her hand roams around on his chest and stomach, continuously venturing further south.

"She thought I liked the others better because I saw them more often than her and so she had come here to confront me on my horrendous behaviour but always fell asleep waiting" he explained.

"The poor thing"

"Yeah, so we agreed that when I can we would read some stories together either before she goes to sleep or sometime during the mornings." He explains grabbing her hand before it disappears under the furs. Pushing her onto her back, her knees parting so that he can settle between them. Her hands come around his neck pulling his head down towards her, their lips meeting in a heated kiss.

He pulls back from her lips when the need for air becomes too much and trails a line of kisses down her neck towards her chest, his hands find the hem of her shift and in rush he pushes the material to pool at her waist as his hands grab at her small clothes before going back to push the shift off his wife. Just as he is about to get the shift over her head a shriek loud enough to wake all of Winterfell come out of the crib behind him.

Ned lets out a frustrated growl but keeps on pulling the shift over her head and only her reluctance makes the task unsuccessful. "If you don't get up she'll just go back to sleep," he says wishfully.

"Ned!" She exclaims as she pushes Ned away so that she can sit up and fix her shift. "She's probably hungry, I can't just let her cry," she says, kissing him on the lips one last time before getting out of bed.

Ned shifts over to his side of the bed, looking up to see his wife pick up their daughter and place her at her breast and not for the first time since coming home from the Iron Islands does he feel resentful of his daughter.

Before Cat can settle Arya back down Ned feels the need for sleep claim him and so he lies back and thinks to himself, tomorrow will be good, yeah tomorrow.


End file.
